Love Life with Matthew Hussey - (Matt Monday): The 5 Biggest Red Flags in Anora

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Ever had that sinking feeling that something in your relationship isn’t quite right—but you push it aside because everything seems too good to be true? We’ve all been there. And no film captures this better than Anora, this year’s Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards. If you’ve ever rushed into commitment, been swept away by grand gestures, or felt like you’re in a one-sided relationship, then you need to watch today’s episode. I break down the 5 biggest red flags that signal your relationship could be headed for disaster—and how to spot them before it’s too late. --- ►► Order My New Book, "Love Life" at → http://www.LoveLifeBook.com ►► Transform Your Relationship With Life in One Powerful Weekend. Learn More About my Weekend Retreat at →  http://www.MHWeekendRetreat.com  

There is a movie that just won the Oscar for Best Picture that has five of the most important red flags to watch out for in dating. And even though this story is pretty crazy, it actually perfectly shows how we can blind ourselves in relationships and get swept up in the fantasy we hope for instead of the reality that is right in front of us. The movie is Anora, the story of a woman living in the Bronx who works at a strip club where she meets Vanya, the young wealthy son of a Russian oligarch who enjoys an extravagant and lavish lifestyle beyond what anora or any normal person can possibly imagine.

We're talking private jet wealth, we're talking multiple mansions in different countries wealth. We're talking solving getting bored of the color of your yacht by buying a bigger one just for the hell of it wealth. We're talking the kind of wealth that allows you to subscribe to your favorite YouTuber. Oh wait, that one's free. It's almost like everyone should do it.

Just saying. So, Anora, or Annie as she calls herself, thinks she's hit the jackpot. Now, there are gonna be a couple of spoilers in this video, so just letting you know, fair warning. Vanya walks into her life at the strip club where she works and takes an immediate liking to Annie because she speaks Russian.

He pays her to be his regular escort and ends up diving into a sort of relationship with her, eventually proposing in a hedonistic weekend in Vegas. They get married, then he whisks her back to his mansion to cozy up, play video games, have sex, and live happily ever after. For about two weeks. So I want to dive a little deeper and look at what are the biggest red flags in those first few weeks of the relationship between Annie and Vanya that tell us they are headed

for disaster. Now these red flags might seem obvious from a moviegoer's perspective and it's really easy to watch a film like this and go oh oh my God, I can't believe she didn't see that coming. But in reality, in real life, these red flags can show up in ways that are far harder to detect and are easy to miss, especially when we want a relationship to work. Number one, the transactional basis of the relationship. From the very beginning, Vanya treats Annie as someone whose affection can be bought.

He hires her for sexual encounters, pays her $15,000 to stay with him for a week, and showers her with material comfort, clothes, and jewelry, blurring the lines between genuine affection and a business arrangement. Although at first, Annie is wise to this, eventually Vanya lavishes her with so many gifts and his glamorous world that she drops her guard and becomes

convinced that he must find her truly special. She never stops to notice the lack of emotional connection that they have and how little he seems to perceive her as a human being. We might think this couldn't happen to us, but it is surprisingly easy to be dazzled and confuse someone lavishing us with attention or material affection and see it as a sign of their real feelings towards us. At the very least, it's easy to be blinded by it when someone lives a great lifestyle

that we suddenly get to be a part of. We have to remember that just because someone takes us to a nice restaurant on a date, it reveals nothing about their deeper character. Character can only be revealed over time. The second red flag in an aura is the one-sided emotional dynamic. For Vanya, Annie is a source of comfort,

companionship, and sexual excitement, but he never reciprocates by trying to be the same for her. Ani is a source of comfort, companionship, and sexual excitement, but he never reciprocates by trying to be the same for her. He never shows any real curiosity in trying to get to know her. She is simply there for his entertainment as his toy. And when he is bored, he just shuts her out and plays video games while she cuddles up at his side.

He never asks her what she likes and has no genuine interest in her as a person. There is no real emotional investment on his end. So basically, she is just along for the ride in whatever his whims dictate. This even happens in the bedroom. He never once asks her what might be pleasurable for her. And it's only when she has a single small moment where she suggests that she might like to have sex in a different way that a confused Vanya even considers her enjoyment. She is more of a passive presence rather than an equal partner in the relationship and as we already know the only relationships

that work are relationships of equals. You might look back on a relationship or a friendship that you loved and realize, wow they never showed any real concern for my needs or put me first even once. As you're listening to this I want you to consider for a moment if there is a relationship or a friendship in your life where it only works when you're meeting their needs and that there is a problem anytime you even have needs. The third red flag in an aura is the impulsive marriage proposal. During a trip to Las Vegas, Vanya proposes marriage on a whim, leading to a hasty wedding without proper consideration of their compatibility or future plans.

There's not a thought as to her family or what's best for her, it's just him being led by his feelings of passion and sweeping Annie up in his excitement about doing something drastic and becoming an American so that he can be free of his parents' control over him. Which doesn't exactly go as planned. Matthew AI, how can I help? Matthew AI, what should you do if someone impulsively proposes to you within two weeks of dating them? It's definitely something to pause and reflect on.

A proposal within two weeks can feel flattering, but it's also a sign that the person might be moving too quickly without truly knowing you. Building a relationship takes time, time to understand each other's values, goals, and how you handle life together. A proposal this early could suggest they're more caught up in the idea of love

or the excitement of the moment rather than genuinely connecting with you on a deeper level. Okay, we don't have enough time for Matthew Ai's entire answer, which I'm sure would be brilliant. You can go and ask the entire question or any question you like by going to askmh.com. And if you've never used it before,

you can ask free questions. So go try it out. If you're wondering if something is a red flag, why not go ask Matthew AI? Now this being a red flag may seem obvious, but big gestures feel so romantic and special when we're lost in the moment. But they're just as often a sign that someone isn't taking our own needs, best interests

or a pace that works for us into account. It's also a sign that they're not actually serious about a real relationship, because anyone who's serious and mature in their approach to relationships is looking for real compatibility, something that cannot be known within two weeks. The fourth red flag in an aura, the lack of personal responsibility. Throughout the movie we learn that all of Vanya's extravagance is ultimately at the mercy of his rich parents. He has no money or assets to his own name and lacks any real independence of his own. What's more, he regularly bites the hand that feeds him by ignoring his studies, partying, getting drunk,

getting stoned, and marrying a Nora was the latest in a long line of behaviors childishly designed to provoke and antagonize his parents. Ultimately, we learn that Vanya is still mentally a child and barely able to keep himself together or stick to anything, let alone being responsible enough to care for somebody else. Instead, he is viciously selfish

and has never learned that his behavior has real consequences on other people's emotional and mental wellbeing. Additionally, his lack of emotional maturity could be perceived as a deep lack of empathy. The bottom line here is that if someone can't be loyal to anything else in their life, nor face up to any real responsibility, it makes absolutely no sense to believe that they'll have the discipline or the emotional maturity to make a relationship with us work.

The fifth red flag is abandonment in a crisis. When Vanya's parents send their hired muscle to come and get the marriage annulled, they barge into the house and Vanya immediately runs away. He takes off and sprints out the door at the first opportunity, leaving Annie to deal with the consequences alone. This is classic abandonment in a crisis,

and it's what happens when you're with a person who is all smiles and fun when everything is going their way, but who immediately reverts to self-preservation when a problem occurs and has no regard for including you in the rescue plan. The relationship for Vanya was always about him and his comfort, not about building something and being a team together. But of course, she didn't realize that until it was too late.

And look, it's not her fault. What's very clear throughout the movie is that Annie has not had an easy go of it in life. She is a 19 year old exotic dancer with no support from family around her, and in the end, her breakdown exhibits such a deep sadness that transcends her situation with Vanya and what she feels she has lost. She had the fleeting feeling of getting a lifeline, a relationship that would pull her out of the tough and cruel world she comes from, and instead, she ended up a victim in a cycle of men

who only see her as an object to play with. But wherever we come from in life, it's easy for any of us to fall prey to these weaknesses. Seeking safety in someone else, using relationships as a way to escape our lives, falling for a fantasy, or simply wanting love so badly that we accept it even in the most flimsy or dangerous of forms. The only way we can stop being led by these desires is to create our own place of safety outside of a relationship and inside of ourselves. That way we don't need a relationship to define us, we can accurately assess the right relationship as an opportunity to come together with an equal

where we can mutually fulfill each other's needs. Now if you know that you've been attracted to red flags or actively ignored them repeatedly in your relationships in the past and you want to learn how to create this place of safety I'm talking about inside yourself, this is the core work that I'm doing with people over two days in October at my retreat. I will be sharing my tools for handling challenging emotions, building a better relationship with ourselves and overcoming self-sabotaging patterns. Until March 28th, we have significantly discounted

early bird tickets. After that, prices go up. So now is your chance to grab them. The link is mhretreat.com. I'm so excited to see you there because I know that once you have these tools, you're gonna be using them for the rest of your life. So there you have it,

the five red flags from the movie, Anora. Which one of them have you experienced in some form before? Let me know in the comments. I can't wait to read them. Thanks for watching!